After mechanical problems with the Mitchells of Mansfield LCR Suzuki at Brands Hatch Ben and Tom Birchall used a borrowed outfit and rode to a fine third place in the opening round of the 2013 FIM World Sidecar championship.
When it became clear that their own outfit would not be serviceable in time for the Aragon meeting and in an effort to salvage some world championship points Ben was pleased to accept the offer of a loaned outfit from long time supporter John Lawson who has been helping the team for a number of years.
The weather in Spain was far removed from the rain and cold of England and the Birchall brothers completed their qualifying in fifth place for the start of Sunday?s 15-lap race in glorious sunshine.
Starting from a second row grid position Ben and Tom got away to a good start and moved up into fourth place in the early laps. The two leading outfits of Steinhausen/Cluze and Paivarinta/Hanni pulled away leaving Ben and Tom to battle it out with Lawrie/Neave and Hock/Becker, the Birchalls managing to claim the final podium position of third at the chequered flag.
?"We are so grateful to John Lawson for the loan of his outfit and pleased we were able to finish in third place and return the bike unscathed,"? said Ben. ?"It was a race against time and after working through the night to prepare the outfit Andy Mitchell stepped in to drive us non stop to Spain in order to allow me and Tom to rest up ahead of qualifying.
?"We took it steady during qualifying but once we got going in the race it was a different story. We didn?t really expect to be able to match the pace of the front runners but were delighted with third place which gives us a fighting chance for the remaining races once our outfit is back up and running.
"There simply was not time for us to make the repairs as we had to leave for Aragon the day after Brands Hatch and when John gave us the lifeline we grabbed it with both hands. The sidecar fraternity are a very close bunch of guys and we all help each other out in times of need. What started out looking to be a hard weekend for the team turned into a third place at Aragon.?"